CIRCA 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN MARBLE HEAD OF VENUS
CIRCA 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.
With youthful idealizing features, her head turned and tilted slightly to her left, on a slender neck, her hair center parted with the wavy locks rolled back over her ears, bound in a fillet, and tied in a chignon at the nape of her neck, with two tresses pulled up over the crown of her head and fastened in a partially-preserved top-knot, her oval face with unarticulated almond-shaped eyes beneath gently-arching brows, slightly-parted lips, and a rounded chin
11 in. (28 cm.) high

Provenance

Private Collection, South America, 1961.

Brought to you by

Molly Morse Limmer

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Lot Essay

The position of the goddess' head, the downward gaze and the hairstyle, find close similarity to the Capitoline Venus, which is based on the 4th century B.C. prototype by Praxiteles. As the goddess of love and sexuality, Venus was always portrayed as the essence of beauty. Her aesthetic perfection is reflected here in the goddess' idealized face, graceful neck and sensuously tactile hair. For a similar example, now in Munich, see no. 411 in Delivorrias et al., "Aphrodite," LIMC.

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